The Decimation Game: Denary Challenge
by Black2Nerdy
Summary: The number 10. It means so many things. The Atomic number for Neon, the number of years in a decade, the number of commandments, how many plagues affected Egypt. To me, now, its means nothing more than my death. Me and 9 others, 1 way out, 1000's of ways to dies.
1. Denary

A loud bang pierced through the silent room, instantly waking me up. It sounded as if two metal pans slammed into each other. The banging startled me greatly, forcing my eyes open. I was greeted with an extremely bright light that forced my eyes closed once again. A feeling of burning spread across my eyes as I rubbed them to numb the feeling. Assuming it was my lamp, I reached over to my nightstand where it should be to turn it off.

However, my hand reached nothing but air. I rolled over a bit to get closer when I felt the bed under me disappear. Shortly after I was greeted with the feeling of falling; a short gust of wind breathing across my body before it instantly stopped, as did my falling.

"Ow! Damn It! What in Hades was that!?" I screamed to no one in particular. The fall made my eyes widen in alertness to my environment; and I didn't like the look of it. I wasn't definitely not in the Poseidon cabin. I was in a cramped room with apricot colored walls and a small bunk bed. The bunk beds had no railing to protect one from falling, which I had just done from the top bunk. I'm not sure if you could call those sleeping nightmare's beds, the mattress was extremely thin and felt like cardboard. On the beds were small white sheets, no cover.

While feeling slightly dazed from the fall, I shakily stood up. I finally registered the fact that I wasn't completely dry, which was extremely odd as I was only wet when I wanted to be. The water was at about ankle level. Whatever room I was in had hardwood flooring; the tiling looked like that of a bathroom. That's when I heard the sound of rushing water, like a waterfall crashing into a lake below.

I tracked the sound to a plain white door that was directly across from the bunk beds. I approached and twisted the golden doorknob that rested on the door. It took a lot of effort to get the door open as the water pushed in protest of being able to do so. After a few good pushes I bullied my way inside of the room.

It was even smaller than the room I was just in. It had a small rusty sink with a cracked bath tub inside. Said things were currently overflowing with water, likely the cause of the rooms minor flooding. Shrugging I moved into the room to turn of the faucets off.

I first when to the sink, then the tub, neither having a handle to turn off the water. Panicking slightly I took a deep breath and remembered I had the power to control water.

"_Then why are you wet_" a nagging voice told me in my head. The voice had a point, I only get wet when I wanted to, I just hadn't thought much on it as of yet. Worried I tried to use my powers on the water.

No response.

My eyes widened in alarm and I dashed to the tub. Sending a quick prayer to my dad I ducked my head in the overflowing tub and inhaled. For the first time in my short, eventful, life the water went in my body. An unfamiliar stinging in my nose occurred as I quickly withdrew away from the water.

I then entered a whooping coughing fit. The water in my nose had traveled down to my throat and was now coming out of my mouth. _Is this what it feels like to drown_?

After what seemed like an hour, I finally stopped coughing and exited the bathroom back into the slowly flooding main room. The room had no windows and a metal door. I ran to the door and grabbed the metal; it felt frozen under my hands warmth. I twisted, shoved, and pushed the door knob, each yielding the same result. The door would not open.

That's when I noticed it, a small scanner to the right of the door. It looked like one of those hand scanners you see the government use in movies. Right next to it were four buttons: one displaying a multiplication sign, another division, another addiction, the last subtraction. I also noticed the multiplication, addition, and division were red while the subtraction was blue.

At this point I was utterly confused. I never was good at puzzles, but this situation definitely looked impossible to get out of.

_Ring Ring; _A phone rang_._

The sudden sound caused me to jump in surprise. The weird thing was, there was no phone in the room. I looked around and tried to track the sound, but it seemed to be emancipating throughout the entire room. After about a minute of confusion, the ringing finally stopped.

"O' Happy day, good morning players" a cheery feminine voice sounded, replacing the ringing. The voice was young, child like, and full of innocence. Though I chose not to let her voice trick me, she probably wasn't someone to underestimate.

"I see a look of confusion amongst many of your faces. What were you expecting, me to be the some evil mastermind?" she said with a giggle.

Admittedly, I had. Someone had kidnapped me, turned my water powers off, and seemed to have more than one person here. Forgive me, but I was expecting some wise dark mage or something. Not a small girl. The girl continued talking.

"Please, where are my manners? I am Ringmaster, your host for the Decimation Game." The girl said in an overly bubbly voice. Decimation Game, I didn't like the sound of that, the words Decimate and Game really doesn't belong in the same title.

"Yes Sally this is a game" Ringmaster answered.

Sally?

No way, it couldn't be her could it?

Why would she be here? My musings were interrupted Ringmaster's voice.

"Yes, those of you who are Romans should be familiar with the term _decimate_. No? Well in ancient Rome, they punished cowardliness or mutiny by killing one in every ten soldiers within a cohort. You see this game is quite fond of the number 10. There are ten of you here, I'm ten years old, and the answer to your first puzzle is even ten" the ringmaster said in the same overly happy voice.

I doubted she was ten, even though her voice did sound like it was. The answer to the first door was ten. That'd be helpful if I knew the question.

"Well glad I could give you all a hand. Why don't we add another ten to the equation? You all have ten minutes to get downstairs to the lobby otherwise… well the janitor is going to have a lot of cleaning to do." With that Ringmaster quit talking, leaving me more confused than I was when she started talking.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

A mysterious noise began to beep every second, it sounded like the ticking of a time bomb. The noise made my heart race. The strange part was, it sounded like it was coming from _me_. Confused I took my shirt off and looked at my chest.

I was greeted with two scars crossing each other in an X like patters directly over my chest. The scar was red and irritated, like it was a fresh scar. Not only did I see the scar, but the beeping got significantly louder.

In sudden realization, my body froze. My heart must have missed at least three beats. '_Well the janitors going to have a lot of cleaning to do_'. Those words rang inside my head repeatedly. Severe fear spread in my heart, nervousness taking over my mind. A bomb, set to a timer of ten minutes, was inside me.

I had no idea how to get out, no idea where I was, no idea why I was here; but I knew one thing, I'm probably going to die here unless I get out. My breathing increased rapidly as I felt my vision blur with tears.

I tried to think of the positive; at least my last real day alive was spent with Annabeth. The mere thought of having to leave her pained me greatly. We had just survived a massive war; we had just admitted our feelings. What happens? I die two days later.

Those thoughts were too dark for me, and if I was going to die I was at least going to die without a tear in my eye. I moved my hand to wipe away any stray tears when I was welcomed with another fearful sight.

On the palm of my hand, was a branded number 7. It looked to be scarred deep in my skin; inflamed red skin surrounded the seven. I noticed the seven's coloring was odd. Unlike the darker red you'd expect after being burned, it was a bright, vibrant red. The coloring was very similar to the color of three of the buttons I was looking at earlier.

Hmm…

**A/N**

Yey new story. About Swords and Hearts, I won't be able to update it for a while. For a personal project in school, I chose to write a novel. Keeping up with fanfic and my own personal novel is too much to do. However, I can write some for a novel and change a few things around to fit a more Percy Jackson style. Thank you!


	2. The Rules

_On the palm of my hand, was a branded number 7. It looked to be scarred deep in my skin; inflamed red skin surrounded the seven. I noticed the seven's coloring was odd. Unlike the darker red you'd expect after being burned, it was a bright, vibrant red. The coloring was very similar to the color of three of the buttons I was looking at earlier._

_Hmm…_

_The answer of the first __equation__ is ten._

_An equation is must involve __math__._

_There are the math __signs__ on the door._

_The multiplying, addition and division sign are red, __the same red as the seven on my hand._

_The answer is __10__!_

_7 x 7 = 49_

_49 + 7 +7 + 7 = 70_

_70 / 7 = 10!_

The revelation hit me like a ton of bricks. Hope filled my formally vacant heart once more as I quickly made my way towards the keypad. Thoughts of the bomb in my chest raged against my brain as I did so. Something told me if I made a mistake here it'd be my last. Gingerly I touched the keypad.

It was extremely cold to the touch, so cold it made me withdraw my hand the second I touched it. Barely audible over the roaring water and beeping coming from the bomb, was an extremely soft beep. Not like the beeping coming from my chest, it sounded more like it was confirming something rather counting down.

It was only a scanner so there was no way of me knowing if the number seven was actually put in. I sent another quick prayer that my solutions was the correct one and pressed the multiply button and pressed my hand against the scanner.

I was hoping for a confirmation beep of some sort but the same low beep emitted from the keypad. Swallowing my nervousness I continued to put in the rest of my equation. As I touched my hand for the last seven the keypad turned a striking red. If not for the sounds I heard directly afterwards, I would have thought I was wrong.

Those sounds were the same low beep played three times consecutively, accompanying the sound of an unlocking door. My body reacted before my brain did; I twisted the doorknob and shoved. Surprisingly, the door opened easily.

My momentum from pushing so hard sent me crashing to the ground outside the door. Water gushed out of the room, seemingly happy to be released. The fall may have hurt me and got me extremely wet but I was so happy I was out of the room I didn't care to notice.

I would have been content with celebrating now but a certain ticking noise prevented me from doing so. The Ringmasters words rang deep in my mind, _"You all have ten minutes to get downstairs to the lobby otherwise… well the janitor is going to have a lot of cleaning to do."_

The fact that this was all a game to her angered me greatly. I've never been one to promote the taking of one's life but I seriously wanted the Ringmaster dead, 10 years old or not. Shaking of those thoughts off, I looked around at my environment.

The walls were completely made of steel with no decorations. The carpet that wasn't covered be water looked to be completely white. Numerous doors seemed to stretch down a never ending hallway that was weakly lit. The door I case out was at the end of the hallway, meaning I had to trek that entire distance.

Ringmaster said to meet in the lobby in ten minutes. I knew at least half of that time was lost during my little breakdown earlier. This meant I had less than five minute to find the unknown location of a lobby.

Seeing as she said lobby, this must have meant I was truly in a hotel. That being said, the lobby must have been downstairs. Not wasting anytime I sprinted down the seemingly endless hallway.

Though I knew it wasn't, it felt as though I had been running for ten minutes when I reached an elevator. Without skipping a beat, I pressed the down button located on either side of the elevator.

Unfortunately, there was no response.

A cool sweat began to form on my neck as I began to frantically look around. The dimly lit hallway made it hard to truly distinguish everything but I was able to find a sign, a staircase sign. The second I made my way towards it the beeping in my chest became much more rapid, communicating a message to me.

_Only one minute left!_

What weariness I had from the previous run I just finished vanished. I wave of pure adrenaline coursed through my blood as I ran to the staircase. I sprinted down the staircase, stumbling and falling a few times.

The rapid beeping was the only thing keeping me from collapsing with exhaustion. I was vaguely aware of the fact I had gone down seven stories when I finally reached the bottom door. I heaved the door open and promptly collapsed upon entering the room. My body was too tired to go on, this would be my grave. My eyes closed as my limbs began to feel numb. I was vaguely aware of two familiar voices calling my name.

Not soon after a couple pairs of hands began dragging me somewhere. The second the hands stopped dragging me the beeping sound stopped. I felt someone sit up against a solid surface and begin to ask me questions.

"Percy? Percy!? Are you ok?" the womanly voice squeaked. It feels like it's been ages since I heard this voice. It was the voice of security when I was younger, the voice that could be so tender at times and so stern at others.

"M-mom?" I gasped out. I couldn't believe it, my mother, Sally Jackson, was here playing this game with me. My shock was doubled when I heard yet another familiar voice from behind my mom's.

"Is he going to be alright Ms. Jackson?" she asked. My red-haired nightmare decided to make another shocking appearance in my life. Rachel Elizabeth Dare was mere feet away from me.

Rachel and mine's relationship had been rather conflicted. I planned to tell her we could only be friends as my heart belonged to another tomorrow, or should I say today. Of course I hadn't been planning on getting kidnapped, so my plan was currently null and void.

Finally catching my breath I stood up and surveyed my surroundings. Rachel and my mother were looking at me worriedly, which wasn't exactly shocking me. What did surprise me were the seven people who looked at me intently.

One was a boy my age, of which looked well built. He had sandy blonde hair and striking blue eyes that I know I've seen somewhere before. He's definitely seen combat if the scar on his lip was any indication. He held and emotionless mask, though his eyes looked genuinely concerned.

Sharing that look was one of his companions. She had deeply tan skin and a skinny, athletic build. She had long flowing, brown hair that caressed down her firm shoulders. Her face was also an emotionless mask that didn't reach her eyes.

Their other companion looked at me the way a king would look at peasant. He looked like he could care less rather I lived or died. He also had blonde hair, though he was much scrawnier than the first boy I saw.

The three of them sat on a manila colored loveseat, the scrawny boy sat on the arm of the couch. On the opposite side of them was another love seat that sat two others. One was petite shaped girl who looked like she may have been a Native American, or at least a descendant of one. She had an aura of natural beauty about her I can't quite describe. Something about her reminded me of Silena. Perhaps it's because I could never exactly figure out what color her eyes were.

Next to her was a small Latino by who wore a weak smile. He looked slightly goofy; I could tell the bad situation was messing with him. He looked like he could keep us laughing, which we all may need in the current situation.

I saw two others out of the corner of my eyes at what I'd assume was the check in desk, though the second my eyes headed their way I heard a voice I had already learned to hate, thus taking my attention away from the two of them.

"Well, you all survived the first challenge. Honestly I would have been disappointed if you hadn't, looking at you Percy" the overly bubbly voice of the Ringmaster sounded in the room. The voice seemed to be surrounding us, as though the whole room was filled with speakers. If possible, her little jibe made me even madder. Luckily I kept my mouth closed; I didn't need to make the person who currently was in control of my life mad.

"As a reward, how about I give you the rules of the explanation game. Throughout the hotel you're in there are ten doors, nine of which have a random number between eleven and a hundred. Each room has number painted on it; the scanner next to that door must equal that number. Any number you put in the scanner is irreversible, so don't mess up.

Each of you has a number that is a certain color imprinted on your hand. That number is the number you put in the keypad. The color on your hand represents the buttons you're aloud to push. For example, since Percy has a red seven he can only press buttons that are red. If he presses any color that isn't red I'll be sure it's the last thing he ever does." She concluded.

Each of us was silent, waiting on her to continue. After a minute of silence her voice returned, slightly annoyed. "In each of your pockets are hints about the game. If you got it wet during the first challenge, tough luck. I'd advise you red Reyna's first. Hopefully it'll add some incentive for each of you to work faster."

With that her voice was gone, at least for now. The girl with long brown hair I noticed earlier pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket. I saw her read over the note first before reading out loud. Her eyes widened and she visibly tensed. As if a spell was placed on her, she froze completely. The buff blonde put a protective arm around her and she eventually regained her composure.

Her low, nervous filled voice spoke what the note read.

"_You've got ten hours to escape."_


	3. One Down

A spell was put on us, or at least you'd think so. The girl, who Ringmaster called Reyna, read the heart stopping message from Ringmaster herself: Only ten hours to escape. At least five minutes of that time was spent in silence at the sudden revelation. The buff blonde kid was the first to recuperate.

"Alright, no more wasting time! We need to know all we can about this 'game'. Ringmaster said each of us got a note right? Well let's read off what each of us got. I'll go first." He said before he drove his hand into his pocket. I couldn't help but notice he carried the way a leader would. After a few seconds he fished out a small piece of paper and read it out loud.

"There are ten two cards" he read before looking up with a look of confusion. I shrugged my shoulders at him; that hint made no sense at the time, we probably needed more context.

"Maybe if we read all the hints it'll make more sense" my mother surprising spoke up, voicing my exact thoughts. Ringmaster's phone call interruption caused me to temporarily forget that my mom and my, sort of, X-girlfriend was here. I gave each of them a quick glance and made a mental note to talk to them later.

The scrawnier boy that sat on the arm cushion next to Reyna gave a curt nod and began to read his note.

"Try and leave and your fired" he mumbled out in monotone. Another silence ensued afterward. We didn't have to guess what that hint meant. Ringmaster was always watching; if we try and escape we'll be blown up. After clearing her throat to disrupt the silence, Rachel gave her hint.

"It says '2+2+2+2+2= 10" Rachel read before looking at us confused. Reyna seemed to be deep in thought as she spoke up for the first time since she gave her hint.

"Could that be the way out? We need to find the number two card and use it to get out of here." She questioned. Before anyone could give it much thought the buff blonde responded.

"Maybe but let's get all the hints before we start coming up with ideas." Reyna looked upset about her idea not being fully recognized, but gave a grudging nod in agreement.

"I'll go next" the Native American girl said before reading her paper. "Only those who participated in the equation can enter through the door."

Her Latino friend quickly followed. "Mine says 'Whoever touches the Two Card first owns it'. Interesting huh?" he asked with forced enthusiasm. He was trying to keep the situation upbeat, key word trying. Still, I admired his effort.

Figuring it was my turn I brought out my paper. It was slightly wet but not unreadable.

"Two Cards are behind any numbered door except 10." I said before grinning. That was a pretty good hint. Even better was my mother's hint, which sparked a flame of hope that had been missing.

"Mine says 'All of you have a chance to escape!'" she practically yelled, though who could blame her. That was the best news we could have received. The mood visual brightened as everyone breathed a sigh of relief. We would all make it out alive.

"I figured it out" Reyna yelled out excitedly. Everyone's eyes turned to her, awaiting her conclusion.

"Through each of regular doors is a hidden number two card. Each person gets a number two card. Five go through the number ten door at a time. All of us get out alive!" she finished, standing up in excitement.

"That make's since but there are only nine non-ten doors, meaning only nine number two cards. We're missing a card." The buff blonde quickly countered. The mood of the room fell drastically, falling even more than it was when they first got into the room. The blonde quickly followed the rejection of Reyna's plan with his a plan of his own.

"You may not be wrong. Remember we still have two more hints" he said while giving Reyna a reassuring pat on the back. I looked toward the desk I remember seeing the two girls before Ringmaster's phone call, but they were gone. Not only were they gone but a door behind the desk was opened.

"I'll go check out what they're doing" I volunteered. The buff blonde gave me a thankful look before going to comfort Reyna. The way he shot down her idea was a little less than gentle. Giving him a nod I walked over to the desk.

It was small and very uncomfortable desk, definitely not ideal for working. A plain door was directly behind it, slightly ajar. Assuming the two were in there I opened the door slowly. Instead of finding two people I found one figure, lifelessly lying on the ground.

It was a petite figure of a feminine teenager. Her face wasn't visibly under her deep black, spiky hair. She had dark ripped jean with a punk like T-shirt. Her skin was, no pun intended, deathly pale. She was lying in a pool of a red liquid, presumably her own blood.

Pain and sadness began to engulf my heart as recognition hit my brain. Hypnotically, as if a zombie I dragged myself to her. I had to be sure. I made my way to her and scooped her up, meaning to see if it was indeed who I thought it was.

As I turned her I felt blood gush out of her stomach, warm blood. This was a recent kill. I managed to turn the girl and looked in her eyes. Her usually unmistakable shocking blue eyes had been dulled. Still, I knew who she was.

"Thaila…" I whispered to myself, barely audible. No way she was dead. I couldn't accept that. Without looking away from her eyes I trace my hand down her arm, aiming to get to her wrist to feel a pulse. Half way down her forearm I felt a warm liquid that I had very recently.

Slowly looking down to her wrist I saw a sight so vile I dropped her dead carcass in shock. Her hand, well it wasn't there. It looked as if something had ripped her hand off. Chunks of flesh still remained dangling from her dismembered wrist. It was coated in blood and was still bleeding, refusing to clot.

Time seemed to fly by as I stood next to her body, trapped in my own thoughts. _What could have happened to her?_ Eventually the footsteps of another person came in accompanied by a sharp inhale.

Instead of retreating like I thought they would, I heard a low growl of a masculine male. Before he could react he was being crushed under someone's body. He couldn't breathe, whoever it was seemed content on choking the life out of him.

"You _monster_! You killed my sister!"


	4. Trust

I felt my throat clench as the blonde continued to sap the air out of my lungs. I tried my best to tell him the truth, of my innocence, but I couldn't form the words in my limited amount of air. I had been so surprised I hadn't even been prepared to fight back.

My body was slowly slipping away from consciousness as I forced my eyes open. I saw blurry images of some bodies entering the room, followed by the sound of footsteps. The first one that was in was none other than my red-headed nightmare.

I heard her gasp before running at me, or more specifically, Jason. She lunged at him in an attempt to throw him off me. Of course, she was unable to do so and fell to the ground after running into him, but it distracted Jason long enough to allow me to escape.

"What… the… hell man?" I asked him between breaths as I slowly stood up. Rachel ran behind me to the doorway, where everyone else had apparently been waiting. I ignored them and focused on the furious boy in front of me.

"I should say the same thing to you! I haven't seen my sister in _years_, only to find her killed by _you_! You cowardly sadistic asshole, I'm going to make you pay!" he screamed before charging at me again.

This time I was ready to fight, he swung a wild punch at me that had been easy enough to dodge. Before I could counter him, a womanly body stepped between us.

"Reyna, what are you doing!? Get out of the way!" Jason screamed, though I couldn't help but notice his anger lowered slightly in her presence. She fixed him with a sharp glare and a light push. Tears welled in his eyes as they fell, betrayal clearly evident within them.

"Don't look at me that way Jason. Calm down and think" she stated sternly before her voice turned much softer, as if she were talking to a young child.

"This boy couldn't have killed her for three main reasons. Number one: There are ten of us in this game. The person we don't see is probably the killer. Number two: did you not notice her hand was chopped off? I doubt Percy has a knife, and even if he did, it would have taken him a while to cut her hand off.

"He would also be bloody right now as that arm bled far too much for him not to get any on himself." She rambled off information so fast I had trouble keeping up. She was defending me better than I could have; no doubt she'd be a great lawyer.

"Lastly, did you actually look at your surroundings? Obviously not, otherwise you'd see the vent above you open" she said pointing to said vent right above Thaila's body. It was opened and just big enough to fit a small person in. Dried blood was easily seeable; whoever killed her hadn't been very sneaky.

Jason noticed this and visible calmed down his anger evaporating, leaving only a sad broken boy. Reyna immediately wrapped a supportive arm around him in an attempt to comfort him. She began to walk out the door before she noticed her scrawny friend was inspecting the body.

"Octavian, what are you doing?" Reyna screeched, causing Jason to cover his ears.

The boy who she called Octavian spoke in a calm, superior manner. His tone was nonchalant, as if the dead body hadn't even fazed him. "Well, Reyna, I plan on escaping this little game. If she has hints that could get me out of here faster than I want them; and it looks like I just hit the Jackpot!" Octavian acclaimed as he pulled out a sheet of paper with something attached to it from Thaila's lifeless corpse.

"This one's a bit long." Octavian said more to himself than us before he began reading. "Congratulations! You got the number ten brand, meaning you get a very special reward! Here is a number two card! Now be careful, the first person to touch this permanently owns it, therefore they're the only one that can use it. If you were to die, the card would then be null and void. Good luck?"

As soon as he finished, he ripped the attachment from the note. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know what that was; a card that looked more like a blue computer chip. Painted on it was a red number 2 directly in the center of it.

"Quick, everyone tell what color branding is on each of your hand" Octavian said quickly, as if receiving a sudden revelation. I had forgotten that the red seven on my hand wasn't natural. One by one we each gave our colored hand as well as the number.

My mom had a white number one.

Rachel had a purple number two.

Octavian had an indigo number three.

Jason had a green number five.

The Native American girl had yellow number six.

I, of course, had a red number seven.

The Latino had an orange number eight.

Lastly, Reyna had a grey number nine.

"Hmm… I see. Then the two main color's were missing are blue and black." Octavian mumbled softly, though we all heard him.

I ran that through my head quickly. He was right; we had white and grey but not blue, and we had every color of the rainbow except blue.

"What are you getting at Octavian" Reyna said disdainfully. She obviously knew him before coming here, but apparently didn't get along with him greatly. Though I could understand why, something about him just rubs you the wrong way. Octavian either didn't notice or didn't care about her tone.

"I'm saying that Jason's sister here either a blue four or ten. You see, the card is blue, meaning she touched it, therefore claiming ownership of it. I'm also saying there is a person running around with access to any door with black or blue." Octavian quizzically spoke.

"Wait, why would they have access to both black _and_ blue doors?" I questioned out loud to him. He looked me down like a stern parent would look at a disobedient child.

"Are you unobservant or just that daft? The killer obviously cut off the hand that had her number on it. All you need is the hand to get through a door, not the person."

A few of us gasped in shock. How he remained so calm about this was beyond me. As if killing wasn't bad enough, defiling someone's corpse was even worse. I looked back over a Thaila and began to feel sick to my stomach. The pungent odor of blood was getting hard to withstand, and looking at my friend's lifeless corpse wasn't making me feel better.

"Hey guys… do you mind if we step outside the room to continue this conversation outside? I can't stand looking at her corpse much longer." I asked as nicely as I could muster. The others nodded sympathetically and, in Jason's case, agreement.

I turned and took one last look at Thaila before walking out the room, praying I didn't have to see something like that again.

We all sat in the lobby where we first met; Reyna took leadership by speaking first. "Alright, everyone, we should start with introductions. I'm Reyna; this is my friend Jason and my…acquaintance… Octavian." She didn't seem to know what to call the blond, merely shrugged and looked at looked away with a bored expression. The Native American girl was the next to speak up.

"My name is Piper and this is my friend Leo" she said while gesturing to Leo. Leo put on a face of mock offence.

"Piper, I told you I am to be called Lieutenant Hot Bod." He said with a smirk. Piper turned red with a look of embarrassment and anger.

"And I told you if you say that…that _nickname _again you'd be lieutenant bruised bod" she practically yelled at him before giving him a kick on the shin for good measure.

I don't know how, but I laughed. Despite what had happened in the last few minutes, this small humorous showcase made me smile. Unfortunately I was the only one who laughed, so Leo heard it. He gave me and exaggerated wink, which earned him another swift kick to the shin.

Before he could get any more bodily harm done to him I decided it was our turn to get introductions out the way.

"My name is Percy, this is my mom Sally and my…er… friend Rachel." I said friend more like a question rather than a statement. It must have been the wrong answer as Rachel narrowed her eyes at me; luckily she kept quiet so no one noticed.

"Alright, nice to meet you all. Now let's try and get everything we know together alright," Reyna said, taking control once again.

"Somewhere in the hell hole there is a door with a (10) on it. In order to enter that door we need cards that create a sum of 10. These cards are found in the form of cards with the number (2) on them. To find these cards we must find them in a numbered door, which are spread throughout the building. We each get a number (2) card, we each get out. I miss anything?" She concluded. Octavian spoke up directly after she finished.

"Yes, only one thing my dear Reyna; one of the (2) cards have already been taken, and their owner killed. As we learned earlier, this makes that card null and void. That means while five of us can get in the (10) door on the first go around, the other three of us; four if you count the killer, will be stuck."

Of course, he was right.

(2+2+2+2+2=10) The first five people with a (2) card will be able to get through the number (10) door.

However that would leave:

(2+2+2+2=8) This, the total of eight, is not enough for everyone else to exit the building.

Suddenly the room got colder as we all looked at each other in suspicion. I wanted to get out with both Rachel and my mom. I'm sure Reyna wanted to get out with Jason (and maybe Octavian) and Piper wanted to get out with Leo. Only five of us were going through that door, and there were nine of us left alive in the building.


	5. Resolution

_Suddenly the room got colder as we all looked at each other in suspicion. I wanted to get out with both Rachel and my mom. I'm sure Reyna wanted to get out with Jason (and maybe Octavian) and Piper wanted to get out with Leo. Only five of us were going through that door, and there were nine of us left alive in the building._

Reyna held a quizzical expression, as if she was finding a solution to a rather difficult equation. Before long she spoke, "What Octavian just said is true. This, however, gives us no excuse to start fighting among each other. When we find a door whoever can enter the door goes through. First one to find the number (2) card gets it, the end. If any of us plan on getting out we need to work together." Reyna spoke with such confidence that I found it hard to oppose her. I found myself agreeing with her.

I wasn't alone, before long murmurs of agreement were clearly audible inside the room. Reyna smiled brightly at us, though how much I should trusted that smile is still a mystery.

"Alright, I believe this hotel has ten floors counting this one, everyone split up and try and find a numbered door." Reyna practically demanded.

"Alright, when should we meet back here?" I heard Rachel ask. I could have sworn I heard some hostility in her words. Reyna apparently heard it as well as she narrowed her eyes at Rachel before answering.

"When we hear that clock ring twice" she said while pointing at a tall grandfather clock in the corner of the room. It read (1:30), meaning we had about thirty minutes to search. Everyone nodded in agreement and began to separate. I knew where I'd start my search, floor seven.

With the elevator still not working I took the stairs up. Walking up the stairs was almost as taxing as sprinting down them. Eventually, I made it to the hallway I had been sprinting down not half an hour ago. I noticed something now that I had a chance to fully observe the hallway. There were two holes that stuck out of the wall; they were oddly shaped, kind of looking like the letters (Ne). I was about to observe it further when I heard footsteps coming up the steps.

It was Rachel.

The awkwardness of the air seemed tangible as we just stared at each other. Let's just say the fallout between us had been a little less than peaceful. I guess I'm majority of the blame for that, during our last conversation I pretty much said why my current girlfriend, Annabeth, was better than her in every way. In hindsight that wasn't the smartest thing to do. We ended up name-calling and it ended with both of us hoping to never see the other again; that obviously worked well.

My brain was trying to figure out what she was going to say. Rachel is an unpredictable girl, I never really know what to expect. Even though I know she's unpredictable, I was still taken aback by her first words to me in days. They were barely above a whisper but I heard them loud and clear.

"I'm sorry."

I took me a bit to respond, Rachel definitely wasn't in the wrong as opposed to me.

"Rachel, what happened isn't your fault, it's mine. I…I shouldn't have said the thing I did. I'm the one that has to apologize; I just couldn't work up the nerve to do so to your face. I… I was scared." I found myself saying much more than I wanted to. Rachel always had that affect on me; like anytime we talked I had to reveal my deepest secrets.

She looked up at me, a lone tear threatening to leak out of her eye, "Why, why would you be scared of me?" Her voice sounded so hurt; I felt the sudden urge to hug her, to tell her it'd all be ok. Luckily, I stopped myself; that would've made it harder for her to get over me and the same vice versa. Plus I promised myself I'd remain loyal to Annabeth.

"Rachel I still care about you, a lot more than you'd think. I was afraid I'd messed up any chance we'd still be friends, I didn't want to ruin that any further." I told her truthfully.

She gave me a shaky smile a hugged me before I could respond. I didn't push her away for two reasons: I'm not evil, and I know that would have hurt Rachel greatly. Secondly, I was actually enjoying her presence far more than I should. Not that I'd ever go back to her, but I guess I wasn't 100% over her yet.

I'm not sure what would have happened next, luckily Jason decided for me as he chose that moment to walk in on us. He cleared his voice causing both of us to immediately separate. I felt myself turn red and saw Rachel do the same. Jason raised an eyebrow and smirked at the two of us.

"Did I… interrupt something?" he asked knowingly. I probably would have said something smart like 'um, err, duh'; luckily Rachel is smarter than me.

"No, we were just…catching up. Anyway I'm off to floor eight if you guys need me" With waiting for a response she was gone, leaving me with Jason.

"She your girlfriend?" He immediately asked when Rachel was out of earshot.

"Not quite…" I said, not sure how much I should reveal to a man who tried to kill me earlier. Jason, however, seemed to draw his own conclusion.

"Oh I see, yeah man I know the feeling. Same kind of thing with me and Reyna right now." He said in an almost patronizing way. I doubted his scenario was anything like mine but I let him think whatever he wanted to. I hadn't lied to him and he still doesn't know the truth, a win-win situation. Jason looked nervous for some reason, a feeling that looked ill suited for someone like him.

"I…I wanted to apologize for, you know, choking you earlier. I was really upset and you kind of became a scapegoat. I know it was wrong and I hope you'll accept my apology." His tone was very sympathetic, but also a bit anxious. He obviously doesn't apologize very often.

"Don't worry about it, I understand how you felt." I told him honestly. He visually relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks man. So how do you know my sis anyway?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious. I didn't know if he knew his sister was a half blood, or if he knew about half bloods at all, so I chose the safest response.

"She was good friend of mine, though she didn't mention having a younger brother." He looked somewhat shocked to hear Thaila hadn't told me about him. He quickly hid it, making me slightly curious. I decided not to pry.

"Well I need to look down the hallway for any numbered doors, I'll see in a while Jason" I told him before walking off.

After about ten minutes of searching I found nothing on floor seven and decided to go to floor ten. On my way up I ran into Leo and Piper on my way up. I decided to start a conversation while we climbed the stairs.

"Hey guys, found any numbered doors yet?" I asked them. They both shook their heads.

"I honestly thought there would be one door on every floor, we've been on two floors and haven't found one" Piper said somewhat dejectedly.

"I didn't find one on floor seven either." I informed them.

"Hey Percy, bet you a dollar we find a numbered door on floor ten" Leo challenged randomly.

"And what makes you certain we'll find one on floor ten?" I asked him.

"That's easy; Beyonce seems to love the number ten. Everything's got to do with that damn number. I wouldn't be surprised if that's where we find a numbered door." Leo said almost too casually.

"Beyonce?" Piper asked.

"C'mon now beauty queen, 'If you like it, you should have put a ring on it,' it's the perfect name for Ringmaster," Leo answered, as if should have been obvious.

Piper and I looked at one another then Leo, completely at a loss for words. I'm guessing our faces were pretty funny because Leo then broke out into a fit of laughter. Shaking my head I proceeded to floor ten, Piper and Leo catching up moments after.

We final made it to the floor ten and entered a hallway that looked just like floor seven's. That is until you notice a strange door right next to the elevator for floor 10. A metallic door, with a red painted (70) across the middle of it.


End file.
